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Characteristics of a Copper-cadmium Tolerant Strain Screened from Tailings and Its Potential in Remediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil

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Abstract

In this study, we have screened out a copper-cadmium tolerant strain K1 from the farmland soil of Laoyaling tailings in Tongling City, Anhui Province, China. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa by 16S rDNA sequencing. To reveal its influence on pollution remediation, the growth characteristics of strain K1 and its effects on soil properties were analyzed. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of strain K1 toward copper and cadmium was 996.70 mg·L−1 and 313.81 mg·L−1, respectively. The optimal growth pH of K1 strain was 7.0 and the optimal temperature was 30℃. Interestingly, we found that the growth of strain K1 increased the environmental pH. The removal rates of copper and cadmium in solution by the stain were 32.44% and 34.05%, respectively. By application of strain K1, the soil electrical conductivity (EC) reduced from 0.46 ms·cm−1 to 0.40 ms·cm−1; the contents of available copper and cadmium in the soil decreased by 34.89% and 17.88%; the activities of soil catalase and invertase were also significantly improved. In conclusion, the indigenous strain K1 showed significant resistance to heavy metals and could be expected to be used as a potential remediation agent or phytoremediation enhancer toward the heavy metal contaminated soil in tailings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Bao Lingzhi for his language proofreading of this paper.

Funding

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700476), the Collaborative Innovation Project of Colleges and Universities of Anhui Province (GXXT-2020–075), and the University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province (KJ2021A0853).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Ecology and Environment, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241002, China

    Nannan Wang, Yufan Wang, Bingbing Li, Fei Huang, Ran Zhao & Youbao Wang

  2. School of Public Health, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241002, China

    Nannan Wang

  3. College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Chuanhao Sun

  4. School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China

    Xintong Li

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  1. Nannan Wang
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  2. Yufan Wang
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  7. Ran Zhao
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  8. Youbao Wang
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Contributions

Nannan Wang and Youbao Wang contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yufan Wang, Bingbing Li, Fei Huang, Chuanhao Sun, Xintong Li, and Ran Zhao. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Nannan Wang. Youbao Wang commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Youbao Wang and Nannan Wang obtained funding. Youbao Wang is responsible for this article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Wang, N., Wang, Y., Li, B. et al. Characteristics of a Copper-cadmium Tolerant Strain Screened from Tailings and Its Potential in Remediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 277 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06296-7

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